Rephidim Temple
Of the sights to be seen in the city of Rephidim, one of the most impressive (if not THE most impressive) would be the legendary Temple. More so than any palace or castle or fortress to be found on the surface, the Temple is an embodiment of ancient and almost timeless authority. Yet, it is also an embodiment of corruption, for anyone who knows any of the truth, and the state of disrepair of so much of the Temple is a standing testament to this. Nonetheless, Templars and Inquisitors and Auditors and Priests make their way through its gleaming corridors, tending to daily business and personal agendas. Like it or not, here can be found the driving force behind Rephidim … and much of Sinai at large.

The day has come. Quicksilver sits in her rented room near Darkside, like all living spaces in Rephidim it's quite cramped, but livable. Currently she is focused on a piece of parchment and a pen as she writes a letter to her family.

The kavi licks the quilltip, and dips it into the cheap ink, scratching out her words slowly. Some of her letters are backwards, and most of her words misspelled. One of her 'friends' at the guild once told her that was her greatest fault as an assassin. Not her habit of stealing, or lying, but rather her complete disability in learning even Sinai's universal language. Her brows wrinkle in concentration.

The letter scrolls out under her efforts, full of crossed out sentences and words. Most of it is in kavi, but is still horribly done.

Quicksilver sighs, and reads it over silently. "Deerest Mimi und Piti, Am vurry wel dooing in Refidum. Am jub goten. Vurry guud job is too. Is gotan lots shekls. As alwais, wurried am of yus bofh. Vurry gladd heering of Akkis weding to Niro. Vurry long wayting fyr this, noo? Sad tho on deth of litl broter Rikki. Cryed lots did. Dunt wurry bout mi. Sending yu mony. Worryd caus job verrry dan-ger-us. If nut heering of mi are bui nekst week, assooming ded are. Luv yu bofh VURRY mush. Sending allso toy frum Bazzarr fur litl Suzzana. Bigg growin shi is. Miss hur mush. Luv, yur dawter, Nikira

Blowing gently on the ink, she waits for it to dry. Every time she has a job, she generally sends as much as she can to her family up in the north woods,. Without this helping hand, the large, loving Kavi family would be suffering hard times indeed. She rubs her thumbs over the money in her pouch. This time she'll be sending almost all of the money she's been forwarded. If she dies during this killing, they'll need it. If she doesn't, there will be more coming.

Quicksilver looks out the grubby curtains shielding the window. What else but assassination could let one kavi keep 20 fed?

Curling up the parchment, she ties it shut with string, and puts it in one of her omnipresent pouches, taking her cloak and tossing it with an easy gesture over her shoulders. She picks up her knife from it's resting place on the table beside the ink. The iron feels heavy, comforting in her paw, and the black surface seems to suck in the dim light of the sun entering the room. She slides it in a comfortable sheath under her tunic.

Quicksilver locks up her room behind her, moving down the stairs and out of the building. She moves quickly, but easily, with the speeded up movements of her race, aiming for the Bazaar.

The scent of the Bazaar is always the first thing to hit you. A mix of fine wares, sweat, garbage, and hundreds of people. Tents and makeshift booths are crammed as closely as possible, and hawkers howl about their wares.

The kavi heads for a familiar area. Salin has been handling her correspondences with her family every time she's been in this city, and she had faith that even with this simply SHOCKING amount of money she needs sent, it won't 'disappear' along route with him handling it.

The courier's booth is still there… but Salin, the Kattha proprietor, seems to be having a bad day. Business has been slow lately.

Quicksilver sidles up and flashes him a smile, "Heyhey! Needing sending stuff to family 'gain." she says in her most cheerful voice. She looks at his face. "Okay you being?"

Salin looks lazily up at the Kavi. "One of my ships was destroyed last week. Blasted war." He peers at the note. "I can't make any promises that it'll reach its destination intact."

The kavi give him a pained look, and nods. She passes a bag over. "Money too," she notes. "NEEDING getting there." she says, then sighs, "But war, nothing doing you can." She gives him a bit of a smile again.

The Kattha holds out his hand. "I'll have to charge three tenners this time. And if your package is that valuable I might suggest waiting until the war is over before sending it."

Quicksilver sighs deeply. "Can't." she notes briefly. She pulls out three tenners out of the pouch she just handed him, and gives them to him. She then double-ties the bag closed again. "Just best doing be. Sorry am 'bout ship." she notes. "Will 'tip' you if getting back letter that money getting there did." She generally says this, and generally doesn't, but this time she knows if she's THERE to get the letter, what a tip it would be!

"Thanks." the Kattha says, although his heart isn't really in the words. "Your letter's got a fifty fifty chance of making it. More if we can hook up with a Temple escort. I'll do my best."

Quicksilver nods briefly. "Any 'extra' money put into this making more likely getting there being?" she asks. She doesn't like delving too deeply into the 2000 that she's sending, but it IS a lot, more than her family sees from one year to the next. Perhaps she can take out some insurance?

"Not unless you can hire one of the mercenary vessels to take your letter instead. And they'll charge you in silver." Salin grunts as he scratches his neck. "And I doubt there's many Kavis out there with silver lining their pockets."

Quicksilver sighs. "How… MUCH silver… ?"

Salin gestures with a clawed hand. "Probably one. But one's enough."

Quicksilver sighs. "Where finding would… "

There's the slightest twinkle in the Kattha's eyes. "I know of a few." He weighs the coins in his hand. "Lemme keep this for myself and I'll see if I can't direct one your way, eh?"

The kavi looks a touch annoyed. "Listen, NOT TIME having for such games. Where one being? Needing clearing up this business quickly."

Salin blinks, then nods and sets Quicksilver's package back down in front of her. He places two of the three ten pieces on top of it. "Go to the Rephidim docks. You won't have to worry about finding one, they'll find you. They're rather popular right now afterall."

Quicksilver flicks her tail. She looks upset at herself for having been so cross. "Sorry. Impatient am." she notes demurely.

"Feh." the Kattha says as he bites the remaining coin. "Try losing your best ship and thirty of its crew to the bats and see how patient you are then."

The kavi picks up the package, nodding. "Trying having MY job, should, " she notes, a touch of bitterness in her voice as well. She leaves, tail fluffed out with a bit of worry and annoyance, before the Kattha can comment again, to the docks.

The stench of the Bazaar finally clears away as the Kavi makes her way to the docks. The city becomes brighter up until the point the shipyard comes into view…

The sight is awful. Some of the ships are damaged badly, and the rest look to be either sailors too frightened to leave port or ragged characters who look just a step above pirates.

Cloak drawn around her, the kavi wanders around. She never liked ships, or the characters who hang around them. She moves around, looking for likely people to ask, her back straight and step lively.

Nobody seems to be making all that much of an effort to approach the Kavi (not all that unusual considering how society tends to view Kavis), but there's some individuals who seem to just be 'standing around' as if waiting for something. Their gruff bearing makes them stand out quite well.

Quicksilver flicks her tail, putting on her 'I know what I'm doing, of course' face. She walks over, straining her brain to make her speech as… legible as possible. "I need to send a package, AND know it'll get there," she says, a touch slowly so the words will come out right.

The fellow the Kavi approaches is a Jupani with one eye. He looks down and regards Quicksilver for a moment. "Depends. How big and how legal izzit?"

The kavi smiles, coolly. "Small, legal. Little letter, little pouch."

An airship that looks to have just recently landed begins to disembark its passengers. A bunch of poodles by the looks of things. They all look rather shaken.

Quicksilver finds herself snickering at the poodles, catching their unhappiness out of the corner of her eyes.

"To where?" the wolf growls.

Rubbing her thumbs over her palm, she gives him the directions in Himar where her family's village is.

The Jupani nods and turns around to bark something at a Rhian working at some ropes behind him. The horse responds in the same strange language and nods his head. finally the Jupani turns around and focuses on Quicksilver again. "Lucky for you, Rephidim is still over Himar roughly. It'll only cost you an iron instead of a silver. Sound fair?"

A pair of Skreeks hefting containers of hydrogen for the airships rush by.

Quicksilver nods, brisquely. "VERY fair." she notes, handing him five coppers. The others she left out go back in the pouch, and she hands him the package. "Lucky for me, I suppose," she says slowly, smiling a bit wider.

The Jupani looks like he's about to pocket the coins until the Rhian comes up and boxes him in the ear. "Your package will make it, ma'am. No problem." the horse whinnies.

The kavi smirks. "No doubt it will, with such a … good crew, sir." she says. She looks at the package for a long moment. "Is VERY important," she notes, then sighs. What would HE care. "Just… get it there, and be careful of bats, eh?"

The wolf growls a little and rubs his ear while his two Khattha companions chuckle to themselves. The Rhian hands the package to a Savanite and whickers something to him, pointing towards the ship. The Savanite nods and bows, then vanishes.

Quicksilver hurries back, worried that she might be late for her job, since the mailing wasn't supposed to take as long as this. Scampering through the streets at high speed, panting by the time she gets to the back alley with her disguise.

In the pile of boxes and garbage, there's a simple gray robe and a toolbelt. Something very appropriate for a janitor.

Slipping on the clothes and hiding her knife on her, she pushes the box with her belongings in a dark corner. She runs over to a back entrance and knocks, three rapid, two slow.

There's an uncomfortably long pause, and then the door opens. "You're late." the raccoon behind hisses, then he raises his voice a bit louder. "Ah yes… finally. Well, no time to dawdle. You'll find the cleanup in the south access hallway. Mind the wiring." The room behind him seems to be a service entrance of sorts. Mostly Savanites cleaning dishes, gathering supplies, and carrying in garbage.

The kavi nods, saying "Yessir," quickly and moving down the hall the raccoon points down, her tail twitching.

The orders were very clear. Almost simplistic as though Quicksilver's employers thought she was a fool. As per the instructions in the map, she follows a dizzying maze of tunnels where she has been ordered to 'wait' quietly for her prey and make sure that few people see her as possible.

Dodging and turning, she finds herself panting softly by the time she reaches her waiting point. Her mental clock tells her she has but a minute or two to wait, if all goes well. As for blending in, she's been doing it all her life.

Quicksilver patiently, but nervously, waits, her adrenaline pumping, preparing her for the amazingly fast moves she'll need to do to pull this off.

There is nothing for what seems like an eternity. A long period of silence where all the kavi can hear is the blood pumping in her ears. Then slowly… footsteps can be heard approaching. They move at a leisurely pace and are probably still a minute or so from reaching the Kavi. The noisy clatter of armor can also be heard.

Busying herself by a wall, she keeps a watch down the hall with her pure black eyes, her head barely turned in their direction, so that any casual viewer would swear she has no idea what's going on.

The footsteps gradually come nearer. Four Elite guardsmen walk into view, and in the middle of their boxlike formation stands a small child. He looks like a child at least… but holds himself with the air of an adult. His robes are embroidered with gold symbols.

Quicksilver feels her breath exhale, very slowly. Yes, they weren't joking about the guards. She does her best to look no more noticeable than a leaf or a bug on a wall, her whiskers quivering with both fear, and exhilaration.

The guards seem to exude an aura of power that can almost be tangibly felt against one's skin. They pay no notice of the Kavi and slowly, agonizingly slowly walk on by. The red haired human in their midst glances at Quicksilver for a moment then goes back to quietly walking along his way.

Saying quiet prayers to her own little gods, the ermine lets her eyes follow them. Please let the distraction come soon, she prays to herself.

Nothing seems to happen for the longest time… it seems as though the human might just leave. Then, suddenly, a panel on the wall begins to spark, others nearby also begin shooting off sparks. The guards instinctively leap forward to protect the human, leaving his back wide open to the assassin. Seconds later the lights go out.

Quicksilver scurries over, making as if to check on the panel. As the light falls, she lifts up her shirt in an easy movement, like dancing. One and two and *stab* and away. There is hardly a gasps from the young Candidate before she scampers up into a waiting duct.

The door to the duct clicks shut softly. Moments later gunshots can be heard ringing through the hallway mixed with the shrieks of the guardsmen to fetch more guards, doctors, and just any help they can.

Scrabbling through the narrow shaft, she finds herself letting off a little laugh, just to relieve the intense stress. The kavi moves weaseline through the tight passages, and finally out a grate in an outer wall. Sliding down, she doesn't take the time to reflect on her part in the long, complicated political history of the temple, but mearly on how she'll gain her payment if the doctors cannot do their job.

The kavi finds herself outside, almost like magic the temple is starting to react. Nearby is a sewer grate, ready and waiting for the Kavi's silent departure.

Sliding down, and lifting the heavy grate over her, she sloshes through an inch of wet, smelly water. Off to find her clothes, and rest.